Bright Winter - in situ

I just wanted to show you the spot in his home where my friend,
Jerry Smetzer put his new painting.

Bright Winter (Missouri House) 
 in situ

Jerry told me, 
"The three photo images around your painting are shots of Afghanistan,
taken from a calendar, where I served in the Peace Corps.

Your painting is very evocative of my growing up on a farm in Northern Ohio. 

 These three images of Afghanistan are also evocative of a very important period 

in my growing up years after college."

 

I am thankful and honored that he chose my painting to display 

with other images so sentimental to him.

Thank you sir!

... and thank you, followers, for checking in.

Next post will be progression photos of a commission I am nearly finished with.

 

Equine Challenge - 2

 So on top of the black gesso on the boards, went the lighter color, 

getting the shapes dialed in so it looked like a horse ...

Adding the color and figuring out what to do with the large blank back wall ... 

I decided that there was a window in the back of the stall. 

How to paint it so that it looks like a window and not a painting hanging there, 

was harder than it sounded.

This is what it looked like on my easel.

 This version totally seemed as if a painting was hanging on the wall behind the horse.

 This one is much better.

Confident    oil on wood,  15 x 21 inches

Ta da! 

First time I have ever painted a horse portrait! 

I have to admit it was fun, and I believe the horse looks happier than the photo.

Thanks for viewing my painting efforts.

I would love to read your comments and I will answer them too!

Equine Challenge

My sis commissioned me to create a painting of this photo she snapped of her friend's horse.

I do not, and she did not, know the horse's name.

I told her that I thought the horse looked a little concerned in this photo.

 She said it was - because the owners were not there yet 

and the horse did not know my sister and her husband.

My sister thought the painting would be/look cool on some barn-type wood, 

so we found a pallet and my husband broke it up, planed the pieces (5) and put together the support. 

It turned out to be approx 15" x 21" - about the size she envisioned.

This is the "canvas" (the pallet boards) which was first covered with Kilz and then black Gesso. 

I gridded it and used this photo to set the drawing.

I used ValueViewer to get an idea of the darkest, middle and lightest areas in the photo.

Next posts will show the progression.

Thanks for checking in!

Abstract Expressionism in Juneau, AK!?

Recently two fellow friends/artists and I held a summer art salon. 

We do that sporadically, when schedules (and artwork progress/availability) allow. 

We three have applied for an art exhibit and we have decided we might do some abstract work for it. Thus our interest in the following:

One of our small group found out about a show 

happening now at the Denver Art museum!

Women of Abstract Expressionism 

The groundbreaking exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism will celebrate the often unknown female artists of this mid-twentieth-century art movement. More than 50 major paintings will be on view by [female] artists working on the East and West Coasts during the 1940s and '50s: 

Mary Abbott, Jay DeFeo, Perle Fine, Helen Frankenthaler, Sonia Gechtoff, 

Judith Godwin, Grace Hartigan, Elaine de Kooning, 

Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Deborah Remington, Ethel Schwabacher 

This will be the first presentation of works by these artists together at one time.

While I would love to go to Denver, 

we are investigating each artist and finding some pearl we love about them. 

Sadly, the Wiki link that discusses Abstract Expressionism mentions 

one woman artist (who is in this Denver show) ... but no others! 

Bravo for the Denver museum!

Mary Abbott 

is 94 now. Look her up! Which is your favorite Mary Abbott painting?

Here is mine:

Jay DeFeo 

painted on THE ROSE for 8 years and built up a literal TON of oil paint! 

Jay DeFeo, The Rose, 1958–66

 

Oil with wood and mica on canvas, 128 7/8 × 92 1/4 × 11 in. (327.3 × 234.3 × 27.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of the Estate of Jay DeFeo and purchase with funds from the Contemporary Painting and Sculpture Committee and the Judith Rothschild Foundation  

This is another DeFeo I just love.

Crescent Bridge II, 1970–72. 

Synthetic polymer and mixed media on plywood, 48 × 96 in. 

- at the Whitney

Ok, thanks so much for checking in to this blog! 

Oh! and I am very happy to announce that 

my sister likes the painting that she commissioned me! 

(whew!)

She is giving it to her friends sometime this summer.

I will show the progression of that painting in my next post.

Happy Summer and Happy Painting!

Goodbye my painting!

This painting now has a home! I am so excited that my friend/fellow artist
Jerry Smetzer is the new owner.
Jerry is a writer and artist who thinks deeply about the world and its inhabitants.
See a snippet from his website HERE. (This is his explanation and video slideshow of Walkabout.)

I encourage you to check out his website and his ongoing
 WALKABOUT project - it is fascinating!

Bright Winter (Missouri farmhouse)     oil on rough side of Masonite   15 x 15 inches

This painting was originally posted on this blog here on 1/24/2010.

Thank you for checking in ... yep, still working on my BODY body of work :)

Plunging in -

- to what feels like uncertain waters.

I guess that's the nature of artistic endeavors sometimes ...

I'm beginning work on a small commission; it will be a fun challenge!  

Also working on a small - for now - body of work about bodies!

Here is the progression for the first "body" painting from this photo 

(and grid) from a video screenshot:

Charcoal sketch

 I used a dark gray gesso for this one.

This shows completed charcoal sketch

 set with an alcohol wash.

Shoulder Press         8 x 8 inches     oil on canvas

The gal's wrist in the photo was not demonstrating good form,

so of course I had to correct that. I took a photo of my own hand holding a dumbbell.

Thank you so much for viewing my art.

Happy June 1st!